Remarks: After completing his apprenticeship as a bladesmith in 1791, Nathan P. Ames opened his first shop in Chelmsford, Mass.; he relocated to Chicopee, Mass., in 1829, by which time his sons, Nathan P. Jr. and James T., had joined him in his business. In 1831 they received their first government contract for swords. In 1880 the Ames Sword Company was formed as a separate corporation but acting as a subsidiary of the Ames Manufacturing Company.